"The Struggle"...a clowns hope for life after ich.

[Xirxes]

Here is our protagonist..."Poseidon", currently in rough shape but improving... i will keep this post updated... all support appreciated.

[cybermeez]

Poor little guy.

[Spankenstyne]

Nice name


Hope he continues to improve, he looks like quite the little looker.

[mikev]

Looks bad, but certainly not hopeless. Best of luck to him.

And don't stop the meds until he is TOTALLY clear for at least three days, then look for damage, and possibly use Melafix.

[Mark in Vancouver]

Keep that water nice and clean! He really looks quite unhappy, but things should improve.

[Xirxes]

He looks unhappy in the picture, yet he is roaming about the tank quite a bit
http://members.cox.net/santeestyle/ich_smick.AVI
**8.2 MB WARNING**
notice however that he is not using his rear three fins at all...dorsal and two rear underbelly fins

Poseidon is the one in front, Pontius is in the back playing in the bubbles
http://members.cox.net/beaver-bilt/bubbles.avi
**6.9MB WARNING**

[Xirxes]

**Update**

A sign of improvement today, the spots are lessening and he has begun to use all of his fins again... im hoping that he may clear this thing in a weeks time

[prairieguy]

Sounds good thus far! What tx is Poseidon using?

[prairieguy]

Oops. I should have asked "What tx is Poseidon currently using?" I had missed the earlier thread regarding the problems that Poseidon's predecessors had & the tx's you had tried.

[Xirxes]

Currently i am using Rid-Ich, a blue colored ich medication, supposedly catering to softies such as loaches.

I started at 1/2 treatment daily, then 1/2 treatment every 12 hours and now im at 3/4 treatment every 12 hours.

Directions state that full dose every 24 hours is safe, even for loaches, and they recommend to go to full dose every 12 hours for difficult cases ( which mine is), but im not quite there yet.

[Xirxes]

hrm... 9 days now and still ich covered...
the other clown now has quite a covering of ich as well...

i have been treating as noted, but cut down on the water changes or pH adjustment per advice, but should i keep the temp up?

feeling a bit powerless as Poseidon is now spending a lot of time towards the top of the tank, swimming in place, mostly facing the top of the tank, but also sideways in place (side facing bottom of tank) and attempting to lie on the top of a vertical heater(knob, not element)near waters surface... i noticed this behavior before two of my other clowns died of the dreaded ich.

I have the temp currently at 84F, with heavy bubble airstone, pH about 7.4 no nitrates/nitrites or ammonia.

any new suggestions?

[cybermeez]

After 9 days any ich should be gone. In my opinion, the best treatment for ich and the secondary infections it can cause is Paraguard. It's made by Seachem and many of the more advanced fish shops carry it.

It is very safe for the fish and can be used at full strength on loaches. It also will not harm your bio filter or stain your tank/decorations. I'd do a big water change and then give it a try if I were you. BTW be sure you aren't running any carbon in your filters when using any medication. Carbon removes meds from the water and makes it like you never medicated at all.

[Xirxes]

Yeah, havent had carbon in for some time.... but i have tried three ich remedies so far! hesitant to try a new one... i think i wil do a 50% water change and treat full dose after, see how that goes... very strange but 9 days indeed and still Ich.

I was told to cut back to once a week on the water changes... new recommendation?

This is a very tiring excercise in what seems like futility.

My water comes out of the tap at 8.0 and HARD, should i treat it to 7.2 as well or let the pH be for now?

[mikev]

It may be that some medications are simple less effective in hard water/high Ph.---I don't know if anyone bothered to check on this. (On my end it is about 6.8 from the tap, and I bring it down a bit too, so what works for me may not work for you.) Perhaps someone from a hard water area make a suggestion.

Now, to bring down Ph and Water Hardness --- go to the supermarket and buy some distilled or RO water. Mix 50% bottled with 50% tap. This will bring you halfway to 7.0 after a few changes.

On the best strategy right now:

Option 1: Mark mentioned on another thread his "Nuke Them" approach. Compare the ingredients in your med against what Mark suggested first, of course.
Option 2: Salt bath (30 min, in a salt concentration that is higher than the recommended); this will kill most of the ich on the fish.
Option 3: Research UV sterilizers.---this is one sure way to kill the darn thing...maybe there is a cost-effective way of getting&hooking one.

Don't despare. Hopefully, the next round you will be better prepared.

(I think I'll post the story of my Ich battle in a couple of days, maybe it will help *for the next round*. I bought two clowns from an ich-infested tank last Sat, and then things went yet more wrong....but still, no Ich signs for 3 days now.)

[Xirxes]

Yeah, i had been treating them at 3/4 dose every 12 hours, so i did 50% water change and treated at full dose, with malachite and formalin combo, Rid-Ich+. I hope this is the final process.